Alleyn, his elder brother, was, like his father, an Innholder. At that time plays were acted in the courts of inns, and the old wooden galleries held the spectators, so that the family was essentially dramatic.* The earliest period at which we hear of Edward Alleyn was in January 1588-9, when he was purchasing play books and theatrical apparel, and when he mortgaged a house in the same year, in conjunction with his brother, in the parish of St. Botolph. When a great man is born, circumstances are propitious, and great events rise with him. Had Edward Alleyn come into the world half a century later, he probably would have figured as a puritanical preacher, with cropped hair, long bands, and a mortal aversion to pig and plum porridge at Christmas; and certainly Mr. Collier, though we do not wish to undervalue his theological acquirements, never would have written his life. But, fortunately for the young Roscius, stage plays were becoming greatly the vogue; few of the nobility were without companies of comedians, performing, under the protection of their name, as theatrical servants. Even knights, Mr. Collier informs us, had their dependent players; so early as 1553 we hear of those of Sir Robert Leek, and in 1571 of those of Sir Robert Lane. About this latter date the first theatre was opened; and another, the "Curtain," was in use before 1576: both of these were in the vicinity of Alleyn's birthplace. The Blackfriars Theatre was constructed in 1576, the Whitefriars soon after. Rose, the Hope, and the Swan Theatres on the Bank Side were opened about 1580. When Alleyn was about nineteen, the drama, that was rising so propitiously, and which was afterwards to attain an excellence that for native genius has never been in any country surpassed, was still further encouraged by the direct patronage of Queen Elizabeth, who took into her service twelve players selected from the most distinguished associations of the day. The It was the well-known custom of the time for boys and young men whose beards had not pullulated, to assume female parts on the stage, and Mr. Collier thinks that Alleyn may probably have worn petticoats and talked small like a woman; but it is at any rate certain that before 1592 he had established a high reputation. In Nash's" Pierce Pennyless his Supplication to the Devil," Alleyn is twice mentioned as a performer of distinction. "Not Roscius, not Esope, those tragedies admyred before Christ was born, could ever perform more in action than famous Ned Alleyn ;" and Ben Jonson also couples his name with the illustrious ones of Roscius and Æsop. He is also in the same tract placed on a level with Tarleton, who was the most celebrated comic performer this country had ever produced. He personated Orlando in Greene's Orlando Furioso, which fact is founded on the curious circumstance of a large portion of the original part of Orlando, as transcribed by the copyist of the theatre for the actor, being among the MSS. at Dulwich; part of the handwriting is Alleyn's. It contains no more than was to be delivered by the actor of the character of Orlando, with the cues, as they are called, regularly marked. Mr. Collier says he has no hesitation in pronouncing this one of the most singular theatrical relics in existence, and he has therefore printed it entire in the appendix. The variations in it from the printed copy of the play, in the editions of 1594 and 1599, are numerous and considerable, and A few of the old inns with the original wooden galleries remain in the Borough, in Smithfield, and in the City,-REV. will enable us to form an opinion of the very imperfect and slovenly manner in which our old plays usually came to the press. Another of Alleyn's famous characters was Barabbas in Marlowe's Jew of Malta: in the dedication it is said, "The part of the Jew was presented by so inimitable an actor as Mr. Allen." He was also the representative of Marlowe's Tamburlin the Great :* he excelled in heroic parts, rejoicing in a majestic deportment; and Mr. Collier says that his portrait in Dulwich College shows a contour and person that could enact a tyrant. It was the custom in those days for the friends and patrons of actors to lay wagers as to their respective merits in particular parts, and in one of these Alleyn is pitted against S. Peele; while in another, which is so curious that we shall transcribe it, many of the leading actors of the day are mentioned, and Shakspere introduced under the name of Will; by which abridgment he was, as Heywood tells us,† known among his friends. The paper (which was overlooked by Malone) is as follows: "Sweet Nedde, now wynne another wager Thou still as macheless Ned shalt shyne. For in the triall, come what maye, All sides shall brave Ned Allin saye." From these lines Mr. Collier gathers that Alleyn was famous in comedy as well as tragedy; for all the actors named, except Burbage, were comedians. Alleyn's profits in his profession now yielded him an income which would enable him to marry with comfort. Accordingly, on the 22nd of October 1592, being then twenty-six, he was united to Joan Woodward, the daughter of the wife of Philip Henslowe, who seemed to have been, as wives of those days were wont to be, both buxom and obedient. She possessed property in her own right, chiefly in Sussex. Henslowe was proprietor of the Rose Theatre, and he and Alleyn entered into partnership in their theatrical concerns; the two families living together in the same dwelling in Southwark. The probability is, that Alleyn never acted in any of Shakspere's plays, but he actually did in old plays that bore the same name as those of Shakspere, as Leir, Romeo, The Moore in Venice, Henry VIII. and Pericles, and it is remarkable that while the Lord Admiral's players and the Lord Chamberlain's players, (to which last company Shakspere belonged,) played together at the theatre in Newington * A correct edition of Marlowe's plays is much wanted, and we are happy to hear that Mr. Dyce has engaged to edit the reprint of them announced. We gave a few corrections in a late number, but without consulting the old editions, and only currente calamo.-REV. See No. Jany. 1841. † See Hierarchie of the Blessed Angels, fol. p. 206. Butts, the following plays were presented; whether any of them were by Shakspere cannot be ascertained; but Mr. Collier says, "If none of these plays were by Shakspere, but dramas of which he availed himself in the composition of his own plays, the above list shews that he had, perhaps, been in some way concerned in the representation of them, and his attention might thus have been especially di rected to them. 9 June 1594. Rd. at Hamlet viiis. 25 Aug. 1594. Rd. at The Venesyen Comedy 1. vid. 8 Nov. 1594. Rd. at Seser and Pompie iii". ij. Soon after Alleyn's marriage the plague broke out in London, and put a stop to all dramatic performances; consequently Alleyn and his companions, Lord Strange's players, were obliged to pick up a livelihood by strolling about the country; heleft his wife residing with her father and mother on the Bank Side, and we have some of his correspondence with her, (if correspondence it may be called, when the lady could not write,) which is interesting, not only for the affection which it expresses towards his wife, but for the nature of his own occupations and pursuits. The subject of these letters certainly begins a little inauspiciously, for the writer adverts to a report that while he was absent, his wife had been carted by the Lord Mayor's officers! This letter to his lady, in fancied disgrace, we must indulge our readers with, for it answers the ideas we have of the proper style and sentiments which married men should use, when desirous of showing how ardently they approve the pleasing state they have adopted. "To E. Alline on the Bank Side. "My_good_sweet harte and loving mouse, I send the a thousand commendations, wishing thee as well as well may be, and hopeing thou art in good helth, with my father, mother, and sister. I have no news to send thee, but I thank God we are all well and in helth, and which I pray God to continew with us in the country, and with you in London. But, mouse, I littell thought to hear that which I now hear by you, for it is well knowne, they say, that you wear, by my Lorde Maiors officer, mad to rid in a cart, you and all your fellowes, which I ame sory to hear; but you may thank your ij suporters, your stronge legs I mene, that Another letter follows this, dated from Bristol, 1st August, 1593, in which he advises his wife, "to keepe her house fair and clene, and every evening throw water before her dore, and in her bake sid, and have good store of reue and herbs of grace in her windowes: he begs that his orayng tawny stokens of wolen be dyed a very good blak to wear in winter; and that his parsley-bed may be sown with spinach." This shows, as Mr. Collier justly observes, a domestic turn, "always thinking the happiest place in the world was his own fireside ;" and he adds, that the terms of endear ment which he uses, as mouse,* proceed from an amiable and affec tionate habit of mind. In the meantime, Alleyn was becoming a man of substance. In 1596, we find him disposing of a single estate in Sussex for 3,0007.-money being at that time worth about five times as much as it is now. He also held the lease of Firle, near Beddington, in Surrey, and sold it in 1596 for an amount equal to perhaps 15,000l. of our present money. He appears to have been in partnership with Henslowe, and probably to have derived much of his property from his marriage. He had a debt due to him from Lodge the poet, left him by his father-in-law, for which he arrested him; but though he obtained nothing from the distressed poet, the fact itself has been the fortunate occasion of inducing Mr. Collier to give us some curious anecdotes of Lodge, to correct some former inac curacies, and to settle some doubtful points as to the identity of Lodge the physician and Lodge the poet, Mr. Collier having proved that both Apollos were his own," For physic and farces, his equal there scarce is," &c. In 1597, or early in 1598, Alleyn left the stage for a while, went to his estates in Sussex, and resided at the Brill, near Lewes. While he was there, he received some letters from Henslowe, his father-in-law, one of which is very curious, as clearing-up completely a very doubtful and important point in the biography of Ben Jonson. It appears in Johnson's conversations with Drummond (as printed in the Archæologica Scotica, vol. iv.), that he had "been appealed to the fielde, had killed his adver sarie, which hurt him in the arme, and whose sword was ten inches longer than his, for the which he was imprisoned and almost brought to the gal lows." This story has appeared in all the biographies of Jonson, and Gifford (i. p. xix) adds, that the rank of life of his antagonist was not known, but that he was commonly supposed to be a player. This additional information was derived from Dekker's Satiromastix (1602), when Tucca asks Horace, who was meant for B. Jonson,-" Art not famous enough yet, my mad Horastratus, for killing a player, but thou must eat men alive?" Now it appears by Henslowe's letter that the person slain was Gabriel, a member of Henslowe's company in Hoxton fields. "Sence yow weare with me, I have lost one of my company, which hurteth me greatley, that is Gabriell for he is slayen in hogesden fylldes by the hands of bengemen Jonson, bricklayer." There were, however, two Gabriels in Henslowe's company, Gabriel Synger and Gabriel Spenser, the latter of whom, it is probable, fell a victim to the laws of insulted honour, and died by the same hand that could both "build the lofty rhymne" and lofty mansion, and wield, with equal success, the sword, the trowel, and the pen. The seventh chapter of this work brings us to what Mr. Collier calls an important event in Alleyn's life,-the building of the Fortune Theatre in Cripplegate, from which, till his death, Alleyn received a considerable in As in that, so well known speech, of Hamlet's, "Let the bloat king tempt you again to bed, Pinch wanton on your cheek, call you his mouse." The commentators on Shakspeare, however, have not observed, that this expression comes to us from the poets of antiquity, "Nam cum me murem, tu cum mea lumina dicis ;" nor does Mr. Collier seem to know that Politian has given the reason of the expression in his Miscellaneor. Centur. c. xcvi. to which we refer him. come, and which formed part of the endowment of Dulwich College. The ground on which it stood had been purchased not long before of a person named Gill, who resided in the Isle of Man. It was with some difficulty, and repeated applications, that Alleyn obtained a license for the erection of a new playhouse; for much complaint had been made against the number of playhouses in and near London, and the justices of Middlesex, and of the quorum, did all they could to impede it: Alleyn, however, applied under the plea that the Fortune was only to supply the place of a theatre which had been pulled down, and the Earl of Nottingham interested himself in behalf of his servants. The inhabitants of St. Giles', Cripplegate, also sent a memorial in favour of the designed erection. It was opened previous to October, 1602. On his accession to the throne, James the First took into his pay the Lord Chamberlain's servants, henceforward called the King's; this was the company to which Shakspere was attached. His Queen adopted Lord Worcester's players, of whom Thomas Heywood, the playwright, was one; and Prince Henry allowed Alleyn and thirteen of his associates, who had played to the Earl of Nottingham, to act under his name; but the cloud of the plague now arose to dim their new-fangled beams of glory, and Alleyn went with some of his company to amuse the provincial towns. While he was away, a letter was written to him from (not by) his wedded mouse, which is considered of value, as containing in it a mention of the gentle Shakspere. He is spoken of as "of the Globe," and it shews that he was on good terms with Alleyn's family. Unfortunately, the part of the letter in which he is named is most defective. It runs thus: Aboute a weeke ago there came a youthe who said he was Mr. Francis Chaloner, who would have borrowed xli to have bought things for *** and said he was known unto you, and Mr. Shakespeare of the Globe, who came **** said he knewe hym not, onely he herd of hym that he was a roge ** so he was glad wee did not lend him the monney * *." And then follows a woman's true postscript, "The youth was a prety youthe, and hansome in appereyll," &c. When Alleyn returned from the country, where he had remained to enjoy the sport of hawking, he was ordered by King James to bring his mastiffs and bear-dogs from the Bear Garden to bait a lion at the Tower. The royal beast did not show his accustomed clemency, but killed the dogs, except one, which Prince Henry ordered to be kept, saying, as "he had fought with the king of beasts, he should never after fight with any inferior creature." The plague having ceased, an order of the Court was issued to the lord mayor and the magistrates, directing them not to interfere with their companies of players, but to per * In the testification, under the head of the Libertie of Finsburie, addressed to the Privy Council, there is a somewhat curious statement of the great burden of the poor (A.D. 1600) to the parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate, which appears in their second Reason and Cause" for being contented with the building of the theatre. "2dly, Because the erectors of the said house are contented to give a very liberal portion of money weeklie towards the relief of our poore, the nomber and necessity wherof is so greate, that the same will redounde to the contynuall comfort of the said poore. 3dly and lastly, we are the rather contented to accept this means of reliefe of our poore, because our parishe is not able to releeve them.” It would be curious to know how this parish came so early to be burdened with poor, or whether it was the novelty of the tax, rather than its weight, that so annoyed and alarmed the parishioners; also whether it was the increase of trade and the rising prosperity of commerce that relieved them.-REV. |